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Sony and Panasonic team up for 300GB optical disc push

New format would more than double Blu-ray capacity

A partnership between Sony and Panasonic will seek to develop a next-generation optical disc with a 300GB capacity.

The two companies said that they would be embarking on a partnership that will aim to provide an apparent successor to the Blu-ray format by the end of 2015. Currently, the highest-capacity Blu-ray discs are 128GB.

Both companies have been working to develop a format for high-density removable storage in recent years. Sony said that it has developed a cartridge system that could hold as much as 1.5TB per unit, while Panasonic has touted a RAID system, which can hold up to 180TB.

The two firms have previously worked together to advance the Blu-ray platform and back the format in its early wars with the competing HD-DVD camp to become the market standard and successor to the DVD platform. The format has also served as a gaming mainstay by providing the medium for Sony's PS3 console.

Sony said when it announced the deal: “In recent years, there has been an increasing need for archive capabilities, not only from video production industries, such as motion pictures and broadcasting, but also from cloud data centers that handle increasingly large volumes of data following the evolution in network services.

“Both Sony and Panasonic have a proven track record in developing Blu-ray disc format technologies, and by actively promoting the adoption of a new standard for next-generation high-capacity optical discs, they intend to offer solutions that preserve valuable data for future generations.”

While the development goal for the project has been listed as 2015, the companies have not provided any estimates on when commercial products would hit the market.